Consistent with research on cognitive functioning and aging, research on problem solving has generally found that elderly adults do not perform as well as young adults. Problem solving, however, is a complex behavior that should be examined in terms of the component subprocesses that lead to problem solution. At least three independent subprocesses can be seen to be involved in solving even relatively simple concept identification problems. These are: (1) information acquisition, which is affected by the strategies adopted by the problem solver, (2) memory for imformation gained, and (3) utilization of information gained to identify the target concept or solution. Experimentally separating these subprocesses would not only add to our understanding of the age-related deficits found in problem solving but would more generally add to our understanding of age differences in cognitive processes that lead to information acquisition and age differences in the utilization of that information to form decisions. In addition, an understanding of the component subprocesses implicated in age-related deficits could potentially lead to instrumental techniques to modify problem-solving behavior. The proposed research will focus on independently determining the relative contributions of the three subprocesses to age-related deficits in problem-solving behavior. While previous research clearly indicates that age-related memory factors should play a significant role, research on information acquisition and information utilization has been equivocal on the former issue and non-existent on the latter issue. The methodologies employed will be adaptations of classical concept-formation tasks that allow independent assessment of information acquisition, information utilization, and memory,